Nielsen VideoScan/Home Media Magazine: Blu-ray/DVD/HD DVD Stats (Updated Weekly)

[admin]

Edit: More detailed stats now available, and so updated below:

For the week ending 26th April 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 14% vs 86%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 79.98% compared to last week, total spending: $19.42 million (10.5%)
DVD sales up 64.61% compared to last week, total spending: $165.58 million (89.5%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (May 4 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom892302QZD/?startpage=3

A rebound, but with Blu-ray's rebound healthier than that of DVDs, and this explains the good top 20 ratio that is enjoys this week. Note that the $ volume ratio seems to be pretty steady from week to week, with Blu-ray enjoying around 10% of the intake from home video sales (if Blu-ray is on average 15% more expensive than DVDs, then the estimated Blu-ray market share based on discs sold would be 8.5%).

The week's top selling Blu-ray title was The Wrestler, followed by Notorious, Sin City and the X-Men Trilogy. Neither Sin City nor the X-Men trilogy were simultaneous DVD and Blu-ray releases, so there aren't any market share ratio figures for them. But for The Wrester, it enjoyed what seems to be an industry wide average of around 18% market share for the first week of release. Notorious did less well on 12%.

Important Note: The calculation methods used to determine these numbers have been changed by HMM from this point onwards, and so comparisons with 2008 stats or even previous week's stats may not be comparing apples to apples. The change means that the previous weeks numbers, especially the last 6 weeks of 2008's numbers, may have over represented Blu-ray stats and under represented DVD stats, thus giving Blu-ray a much higher market share figure than otherwise. For the record, all Blu-ray sales figures for 2009 are accurate, only the DVD sales figures are lower than what the new model would give us. Whereas with 2008 figures, both Blu-ray sales were exaggerated and DVD under reported compared to figures from the new model.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom892302QZD/?startpage=9

[dr_ml422]

Both figures were in the middle to high range for both time periods of Blu-ray sales? How did DVD sales fair this same time compared to last year? This time is sometimes reflective of when some receive their tax refunds so I think that's why it's high in sales prolly for both. Also Blu-ray more well known now, so basically compared to how everything went up and the state of the economy the spike in sales for either, especially Blu-ray really don't say much about consumer spending as it does selection and timing.

If we're here to see next year's figures around this time it prolly be up again in my estimate because there will be even more Blu-ray titles released and more people probably interested in Blu-ray and the specific releases themselves.

I would like to see DVD spending its first few years of inception compared to Blu-ray. DVD being a really new breakthrough at that time will give us a better picture because we jumped from VHS to a whole different format. Blu-ray is essentially same format differing in quality output basically. So the slow start of Blu-ray is definitely economical across the board, including everything needed to watch them etc...

[admin]

For the week ending 3rd May 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 10% vs 90%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 22.3% compared to last week, total spending: $15.09 million (8.9%)
DVD sales down 6.74% compared to last week, total spending: $154.42 million (91.1%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (May 11 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom532207SWE/index.php?startid=1

Bride Wars was this week's surprise top seller, narrowly beating the first season of the original Star Trek series. This is despite Bride Wars not even entering the top 20 in terms of market share (so less than 8.06%). So it's most definitely a case of being top seller by default due to heavy overall video sales, rather than being a Blu-ray favourite. Star Trek did well considering the boxset is a lot more expensive than your typical Blu-ray release, and so there's definitely a "trek fever" at the moment due to the new Trek movie. More of a surprise is The Incredible Hulk, which topped the market share charts and came in at 7th on the sales charts, despite it being a somewhat older release. It may be a coincidence, but our new Amazon Blu-ray Price Index section managed to spotlight this movie as a top value pick due to recent price drops, and the price drop perhaps the increase in sales.

The Da Vinci code debuted on Blu-ray this week as well, and earned the third spot, just behind Quantum of Solace. Overall, it can be said it was a relatively quiet week in terms of new releases.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom532207SWE/index.php?startid=11

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 10th May 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 10% vs 90%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 9.48% compared to last week, total spending: $16.52 million (9.1%)
DVD sales up 7% compared to last week, total spending: $165.23 million (90.9%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (May 18 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom221452KJN/index.php?startid=2

Top 10:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was this week's top seller, comfortably beating Twilight in second place by a 4:1 sales margin. The rest of the top 10 are made up of recently released titles, and classic hits, with the only other new release, Last Chance Harvey, sneaking into the top 10.

Market Share:

In terms of market share, it was a relatively poor week. The top title in terms of market share was Quantum of Solace, but it only managed a 25% share. Normally, the top title would get over 50%. Benjamin Button got nearly 14%, which is alright, but had it been an action/sci-fi movie, this figure would be closer to 20%. Slumdog Millionaire, while still number 8 in the sales charts, only had 8.62% market share, which can be considered below average if you look at the sales by disc/$ volume figures above. An Oscar winner deserves a bit better, especially given the excellent cinematography that would look better on Blu-ray than on DVD.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom221452KJN/index.php?startid=10

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 17th May 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 15% vs 85%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 43.4% compared to last week, total spending: $23.69 million (11.19%)
DVD sales up 13.76% compared to last week, total spending: $187.96 million (88.81%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (May 25 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom774152VJK/index.php?startid=1

Top 10:

A big week for Blu-ray, Liam Neeson's Taken was number one, followed by Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. These two titles dominated the sales charts, but other packs including the Underworld trilogy pack and the Star Trek motion picture packs really helped Blu-ray (no so much DVD), which you'll find out why in the Market Share section below.

Market Share:

Blu-ray recorded one of its best weeks of 2009, with 15% of the disc volume trade for the top 20 titles, and 11% of the $ volume. Looking at the market share charts, Underworld Trilogy dominated, as well as the Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy. Reason why this helps Blu-ray but not so much DVD? Well, any self respecting Star Trek fan would already have the movies on DVD, and so are less inclined to buy them in newly re-packaged packs, especially the Trilogy pack which is not the complete movie collection (only II, III and IV). And the Blu-ray version is also only slightly above the price of a single movie release, despite containing 3 movies. The same deal with the Underworld Trilogy. Taken did well for a first week release, gaining 20% of the market share which is slightly above average for new hit releases on Blu-ray.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom774152VJK/index.php?startid=15

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 24th May 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 14% vs 86%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 11.69% compared to last week, total spending: $20.92 million (10.49%)
DVD sales down 5.02% compared to last week, total spending: $178.53 million (89.51%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (June 1 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom829837XVB/index.php?startid=3

Top 10:

Another week with a few well known releases. Leading this week's charts is Valkyrie, although it only managed to out-sell last week's hit, Taken, but a small margin. Other hits include Mall Cop at third, the Skynet Edition of T2 and the first time on Blu-ray release of A Bug's Life (a favourite demo disc from back when DVD was new).

Market Share:

Re-comfirming past trends, this week's top Blu-ray title in terms of market share is the new edition of T2. As expected, a lot of Blu-ray's bucks are going to come from re-issues of existing titles, the very same titles that have already appeared on DVD in numerous forms (and so no longer sells as well), but can take on a new life on Blu-ray as people want to collect the definitive version (and with 1080p and a new transfer, Blu-ray allows for this to happen). T2 is actually a great example, because even someone like me who considers these re-issues to be quite annoying, have several editions of T2, including the Extreme edition that had a HD transfer of the film in WMV HD, which doesn't even work in Australia without some sort of proxy to trick the DRM. But there was really no need for another DVD version of the film (and the Skynet edition is Blu-ray only, although there is yet another "Extreme" edition of the film on DVD), but there is a market for possibly several Blu-ray editions (the Skynet edition being the second in the US, and who knows how many globally). Valkyrie got 20% of the market share - 20% seems to be the new level for new releases (the titles that are popular amongst Blu-ray users anyway) - it was around 17% maybe about 6 months ago.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom829837XVB/index.php?startid=9

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 31st May 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 12% vs 88%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 32.79% compared to last week, total spending: $14.06 million (8.72%)
DVD sales down 17.58% compared to last week, total spending: $147.14 million (91.28%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (June 8 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom129780JKL/index.php?startid=1

Top 10:

Following the last two week's top releases (Taken and Valkyrie), there was nothing of this sort this week, and so the Blu-ray sales figures dropped a bit. In fact, the top 3 remained the same 3 titles as last week, just in slightly different order. Taken was top again after Valkyrie showed that it did not have the same staying power as Taken. Paul Blart: Mall Cop was third again. The rest of the top 10 reflected the lack of new releases, with not a single title in there that was new to the week. And as such, Blu-ray's total sales by $volume dropped back to under 8.72%, the worst result in some time.

Market Share:

T2 continues top the charts with 45% of sales belonging to Blu-ray - 55% belonged to the "Extreme" edition (I know, another one) of the film on DVD, which features the same new transfer (obviously in SD) that the Blu-ray version has. I'm actually surprised the DVD version managed to sell this many copies, because as I mentioned in last week's analysis, most fans may already have about 3 editions on average on the DVD format. Valkyrie's market share dropped back to 17%, which is still quite good and just slightly above Taken's at 16%.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom129780JKL/index.php?startid=9

[dr_ml422]

It's growth is still comparatively slow to DVD considering it's a new format, and not too distant from DVD's themselves. If it wasn't for the cost of everything involved w/Blu-ray we would be seeing a totally different picture concerning sales/market share etc...

Btw thnx for showing some comparisons to time intervals from the previous year concerning both formats. It really gives one a better look at what's actually transpiring since its inception, and compared to DVD.

[autumnkid2000]

do the stats cover worldwide sales or just the US sales?

[admin]

The stats posted here are for US sales only, as made available through Nielsen VideoScan.

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 7th June 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 12% vs 88%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 14.01% compared to last week, total spending: $16.03 million (9.15%)
DVD sales up 8.13% compared to last week, total spending: $159.10 million (90.85%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (June 15 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom453098SDF/index.php?startid=2

Top 10:

Following last week's weak showing of new releases, this week is full of new titles, at least in the top 10. Defiance leads this week's top Blu-ray releases, slightly outselling Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The season 4 of Weeds was a highly placed third, which might surprise some. He's Just Not Into You was 5th, and Revolutionary Road was 7th. The rest of the top 10 were previously released titles including the recent couple of week's top titles, Taken and Valkyrie, with Paul Blart: Mall Cop rounding out the top 10 list.

Market Share:

T2's dominance in recent weeks has been supplanted by an old favourite: The Dark Knight is back on top of the market share charts with nearly 40% market share, which is excellent for such an "old" title. T2 was a close second with 36%. Of this week's new releases, Weeds had the highest market share at nearly 17%, which while not as good as recent top releases, it is a TV show DVD (and the 4th season at that), so taking into account price and popularity means it did exceptionally well this week. Defiance got 16.54%, which is good, but not as good as say Taken or Valkyrie. Revolutionary Road debuted at a disappointing 10.42%, which is good compared to what similar movies would get in the past, but still shows where Blu-ray is weak compared to DVDs (that is, dramas still do poorly compared to action movies).

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom453098SDF/index.php?startid=8

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 14th June 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 13% vs 87%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 24.27% compared to last week, total spending: $19.92 million (9.55%)
DVD sales up 18.54% compared to last week, total spending: $188.59 million (90.45%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (June 22 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom855441XCV/index.php?startid=2

Top 10:

Gran Torino expectedly leads this week's Blu-ray sales charts, outselling the number two title, The International, by a 5:1 margin. The recent week's hits, including Defiance, Taken, Final Fantasy VII and Valkyrie are still all there in the top 10, as we welcome back two old favourites in Quantum of Solace and Transformers. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music makes a surprisingly high entry at 5th.

Market Share:

Quantum of Solace led the market share charts with 32%. Woodstock is again a surprising hit with 21.22% market share, equaling or bettering blockbuster releases such as Taken and Valkyrie. The International debuted at 20.23%, which is the type of figure we are used to seeing these days for new releases. Which is why Gran Torino's 14.01% was a bit disappointing, although this type of movie might not have benefited as much from Blu-ray's increased video and audio quality as say a more action packed title.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom855441XCV/index.php?startid=8

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 21st June 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 8% vs 92%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 4.42% compared to last week, total spending: $20.80 million (8.16%)
DVD sales up 24.08% compared to last week, total spending: $234 million (91.84%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (June 29 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom253664QWX/index.php?startpage=2

Top 10:

Gran Torino retains the number one spot this week, but it was closely followed by this week's new release Friday the 13th (Killer Cut). Ghostbusters also put in a good show at third. The first season of Lost got an unexpected 7th position, and The Boondock Saints and The Terminator both got back into the top 10, may be due to discounting at retail. The rest of the top 10 were still the same titles that were in it last week, including The International, Taken and
Transformers, and also a return to the list for The Dark Knight. Overall, the top 10 list was dominated by older titles, which suggests a weak week in terms of new releases - and the sale stats above reflect this, as it is one of the worst weeks in 2009 for Blu-ray.

Market Share:

Friday the 13th led the market share charts. The Blu-ray version managed to get 19.69% of sales, which is respectable for a new release, but the top market share is usually a lot higher than this. There's no place for Ghostbusters in the market share charts because it wasn't a simultaneous DVD/Blu-ray release (the release was Blu-ray only). Sales for Gran Torino fell back to a dismal 4.72%. The Dark Knight, The International, Valkyrie and Taken are still selling well on Blu-ray.

The complete BD market share chart can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom253664QWX/index.php?startpage=10

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 28th June 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 12% vs 88%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 30.38% compared to last week, total spending: $14.48 million (9.14%)
DVD sales down 38.47% compared to last week, total spending: $143.97 million (90.86%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (July 6 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom786621PMN/index.php?startid=1

Top 10:

Transformers was this week's surprise top selling Blu-ray movie, no doubt somewhat related to Transformers 2 being in the cinemas. Gran Torino held on to second place, closely behind Transformers, while The Matrix, Ghostbusters, Taken and Friday the 13th (Killer Cut) also remained in the top 10.

New for the week were Inkheart at 4th, Confession of a Shopaholic at 5th, The Code at 9th and The Pink Panther 2 at 10th.

Not a great week for new releases, but still a very good week in terms of sales (relative to DVD sales).

Market Share:

Quantum of Solace topped the market share charts with 34%. Taken is still doing very well at 19% and second place, while of this week's new releases, only The Code made the top 10, and with 14.80%, it wasn't a top seller relatively on Blu-ray. Inkheart was also disappointing at 13.18% (we're used to seeing new releases getting closer to 20% during the first week of release). The Pink Panther 2, despite being the 10th most popular Blu-ray title of the week, only managed 6.98% suggesting that there is still a large percentage of people buying DVD versions of new releases, but only for certain types of movies (movies that aren't usually "enhanced" much by the HD qualities of Blu-ray, such as comedies).

The complete Top 20 best sellers and Blu-ray market share tables can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom786621PMN/index.php?startid=9

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 5th July 2009, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 10% vs 90%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 25.9% compared to last week, total spending: $10.73 million (6.92%)
DVD sales up 0.24% compared to last week, total spending: $144.31 million (93.08%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM (July 13 Issue) with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom154432QWE/?startpage=3

Top 10:

12 Rounds is this week's number one title. However, it only just managed to get there by beating the several week old Gran Torino, ensuring that is has held the number one or two spots in the last four weeks. Last week's surprise number one Transformers held on to third place, with Taken, Inkheart, Ghostbusters, The Dark Knight and The Boondock Saints all belong to the group of Blu-ray's that were released in previous weeks and were still able to hold on to a spot in the top 10.

Other titles that were new to the top 10 include Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, an expected hit on Blu-ray due to the gaming demographic of the PS3 (although it's a terrible movie that should never make any top 10, unless we're talking about the top 10 worst movies). The Jonas Brothers Concert was the other new release, at 5th.

The fact that only 3 of the top 10 titles this week were new meant that Blu-ray's market share was one of the poorest in 2009, and is practically back at 2008 levels.

Market Share:

Taken leads this week's market share charts with 22.20%. Of this week's new releases, 12 Rounds debuted at a relatively disappointing 13.37%. Street Fighter, on the other hand, got 17.12% thanks again to PS3 owners. The Jonas Brothers Concert Blu-ray got 11.34%, which is pretty good for a genre that normally doesn't attract many Blu-ray buyers.

Looking at the bottom of the list, Twister only managed a paltry 2.41%, which is kind of poor. If Blu-ray is to succeed, it needs good market share from a wide variety of titles, as opposed to a few titles dominating the sales. Titles like Twister should be at least at 5% across the board. Again, this kind of thing explains why Blu-ray's market share is only growing slowly, and that's only due to new hit releases inflating the overall numbers. If you take new releases out of the equation for both Blu-ray and DVD, then Blu-ray's market share would be much lower.

The complete Top 20 best sellers and Blu-ray market share tables can be seen here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom154432QWE/?startpage=9